Cain: Grassroots will beat Romney's cash

Published 9:36 am, Monday, May 23, 2011

Tim Pawlenty isn't the only presidential candidate who admits he doesn't think he can measure up to the Mitt Romney money machine.

Herman Cain also ceded the fundraising advantage to Romney. But the former Godfather's Pizza executive says he has his own strengths.

"I cannot compete with a Romney when it comes to money. He has at his disposal his own personal fortune," Cain said in an interview with POLITICO. "I don't come anywhere near that, quite frankly. He has a fundraising network because he has run before. I have the advantage of a grassroots network."

Cain, who according to his campaign, drew 15,000 supporters to a downtown Atlanta rally, said his campaign will likely get a boost from Mike Huckabee's absence from the field. Hoping to capitalize on that, Cain will appear on the former Arkansas governor's Fox News show Friday.

"I think Mike Huckabee getting out, or Mike Huckabee not running probably helps me more than the other candidates because Mike Huckabee and I not only share almost identical social values, conservative values, but Mike Huckabee and I are the only two people in this whole field that can defend the fair tax," Cain said.

In the interview, Cain also fought back about increasingly mounting criticism that he has failed to put forward foreign policy positions, particularly in Afghanistan.

"I am developing more specifics on foreign policy as it relates to Afghanistan as we speak. There are some experts, there are some former military generals that I am meeting with on a regular basis," Cain said. "The point I was trying to make was that going into the debate, I had not had an opportunity to meet with people who know a whole lot more about the situation than I do."

Cain said he plans to put forward his position on Afghanistan in the upcoming weeks.